Recently, as we prepared to farewell the old Glen Waverley Library ahead of construction starting on the $110m Glen Waverley Civic Precinct, library staff set up an exhibition of photographs dating back to the opening of the then-brand-new library in 1976.
One of those snapshots in time captures a young library assistant smiling as she scans the barcode in the back of a book with a light pen while a teenage male library client looks delighted as he clutches one of the many wall posters the library loaned out in those days.
Chris Garde, Chris Clarke as she was back then, was alerted to the photo by her son.
"Oh my God! Was it really that long ago?" she laughed at the time. "You still think you're the same after all those years, it's only the body that goes to pieces."
Early in 1975, Chris had only just moved to Mount Waverley when the local newspaper advertised the position of library assistant at the yet-to-be-opened Glen Waverley Library. Though there were just two positions available, and approximately 40 applicants, the chief librarian Tom Woodrow saw enough potential in the 20-year-old to give her the nod.
Following her training at the Camberwell Library, then housed in the old Camberwell Town Hall, the Glen Waverley Library was still far from completed and Chris worked at the Mount Waverley Library until the new library's opening in February 1976.
"It was all hands-on deck to place books old and new on the shelves," Chris said. "There was brand new everything. It was wonderful. It was so light-filled. It was a very nice place to work, a great working environment. I still have friends that I made when I was working there."
Chris said technology has come a long way since her first day on the job.
"The new light pen scanned the barcode on the borrower's card then over the barcode on the book," she said. "You must remember this is 1976 and no computers were in the library except for this machine that recorded the names and book titles. The catalogue for the library collection was still on cards in long wooden drawers where you would see the librarians sorting through to find just the right book for the borrower."
And the workplace of 50 years ago is almost unrecognisable.
"For the library assistants, there was a large workroom for book covering, sorting books for shelving," she said. "Back then it was permitted to smoke in the workroom. As a non-smoker it was very hard to breathe and see through sore eyes while working in a cloud of smoke - but that was how it was."
Chris said library assistants issued books in and out for borrowers, repaired old books and covered new and old books. They also placed returned books back on the shelves and made sure all books were in the correct order.
"One of our daily tasks was to 'pat' the shelves," she said. "That's pulling the books forward and patting them back so they line-up with the front of the shelf. I still do this at home; it makes the shelves look very neat."
Library management allowed staff to attend courses to further their studies, and Chris was able to gain a Library Technicians Diploma at Box Hill Tafe College, increasing her responsibilities to dealing with audio/visual materials, microfilm and microfiche with some cataloguing.
One thing that has not changed over the years is the importance of the library to Glen Waverley residents, particularly to students.
"There were a lot of students back then as well," Chris said. "They wouldn't have had laptops or computers, so they had to go somewhere for their research. Somewhere to look at the (Encyclopaedia) Britannica. It was real physical hands-on research in those days."
The role of library assistant was never a particularly high-paying job.
"We had an incentive of a 1% bonus if you were good enough. The head librarian or the branch librarian put your name forward," Chris said. "The staff looked forward to seeing if they received the bonus each year."
But an even bigger bonus, with a library connection, was to come after a couple of years in the job.
"Through a work colleague I met my husband to be," Chris said. "She tried to set me up with any guy and didn't even think about my husband. It wasn't until her housewarming party that I met him. We were married in 1978, and I remained at Glen Waverley until 1980 when I left for the impending arrival of our first child. I'm still in contact with colleagues from the 1970s. We're still friends and we catch up for coffee."
While reminiscing about her time at the brand-new Glen Waverley Library still brings a warm smile, her recollections are tinged with a little sadness when she recalls the man who first employed her, Tom Woodrow.
"He was a very kind and gentle man who had a vision that libraries should be more accessible to the community. He was expanding the library services further into the suburbs. Glen Waverley was his latest project," she said. "(Around the time of her early training) Tom Woodrow stood down as chief librarian due to illness and passed away a few months later."
Sadly, he didn't get to see his vision come to fruition and the impact it's had on the Glen Waverley community in the 50 years since.
NEW LIBRARY FOR GLEN WAVERLEY
We're building a brand‑new, state‑of‑the‑art Glen Waverley Library, designed with modern and flexible shared spaces to support learning, creativity and community connection.
During construction, we have established temporary library sites at:
- Glen Waverley Library Express (173 Coleman Parade, Glen Waverley)
- Glen Waverley Children's Library (Black Flat Community Hall, 685 Waverley Road, Glen Waverley)
Stay up to date with project timelines and information at monlib.vic.gov.au/library
